The Local Authority Prevention Network is offering a free training course around Ireland this June and July.
The course, which is provided for local authority staff, is open to all local authorities in Ireland.
The course will demonstrate how to carry out food waste assessments in local business and to identify cost savings.
This training course aims to build on work already being done by local authorities under the EPA-funded Local Authority Prevention Network (LAPN – see www.localprevention.ie) on reducing food waste in businesses.
The proposed dates are:
Tuesday 25th June 2013, Sligo
Wednesday 26th June 2013, Dublin
Tuesday 2nd July 2013, Kilkenny or Wexford
Thursday 4th July 2013, North East
Venues at these locations will be confirmed shortly.
Note: This is just one of a number of proposed potential courses – all aimed at facilitating local authorities to assist and support local business.
To book a place on one of these courses, please contact Eileen O’Leary at the Clean Technology Centre. Tel.: 021 4344864 or email: eileen.oleary@ctc-cork.ie.
The 8 primary school MIY GIY Mobile Garden competition participants displayed their gardens at the the official opening of the West Waterford festival of food, hosted by Waterford County Council in the Civic Offices, Dungarvan in April.
The competition was sponsored by Waterford County Council through the Be Green Environment Protection Agency (EPA) programme.
The mobile gardens were constructed from recycling material by pupils in the primary schools under the direction of teachers, school caretakers and parents.
Advice on seeds, plants and soil types was given by Gambia’s Horticulturalist Alan Hartley and GIY (Grow It Yourself) advisor Alexis Guilbride. The competition was judged by Paul Vart Chair of the Dungarvan GIY and Karen and Andrew Green Environmentalists.
See below list of schools:
| Participating Schools | Awards |
| Villierstown National School | First place |
| St Declan’s Ardmore National School | Joint second place |
| Fenor National School | Joint second place |
| Kilbrien N.S. | Joint second place |
| Scoil Naomh Gobnait N.S. Cúl Na Smear | Third place |
| Knockmahon N.S. | Runners up |
| Ballycurrane N.S. | Runners up |
| Portlaw N.S. | Runners up |
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Pictures of some of the schools and attendees at the launch and prize giving (click to enlarge).
The 2013 Great Limerick Run & Riverfest Limerick events will go green next weekend (May 3rd, 6th, 2013).
Many different initiatives are being put in place to minimise the environmental impact of these two great Limerick events by The Regional Waste Management Office (RWMO) for Limerick Clare Kerry, the Environment Section of Limerick City Council, Stop Food Waste (SFW) and Clean Ireland Recycling. The run itself generates over 70,000 plastic bottles, tonnes of cardboard and plastic film as well as thousands of banana skins so well done to the event organisers who have come on board.
Why not head to Limerick this bank holiday weekend and…
- Light Riverfest BBQ will fire up at 11am on Saturday, May 4th on Denmark Street, Market Quarter. An amateur competition, the day long event will host three different cooking categories based on flavour, texture and presentation. See up to 100 teams take part in this fun event and try out some free samples of delectable treats.
Visit the RWMO Food Waste Prevention Stand at this event where we launch the -5kg challenge, encourage householders to take an Eco Pledge & distribute food portion tools.
- Check out the Waste Prevention stand at Great Limerick Run Expo in UL Sports Arena – Saturday 2-4pm.
- Use the segregated waste stations throughout the continental market.
- Use the special recycling bins in the city centre and along the 10km race route.
- Use public transport or car share to & from the event.
- Buying a coffee, a bar of chocolate or an energy boosting banana? Look out for the Fair Trade logo & purchase from these stores.
- Where possible buy local or Irish goods to support the local economy.
- Going shopping before or after the event? Avoid unnecessary packaging & always bring a reusable bag no matter what you intend purchasing.
For more information on the greening of these events contact:
Pauline McDonogh, Limerick Clare Kerry Regional Waste Management Office
Email: pmcdonogh@managewaste.ie
Tel: 087 2755538; 061 496844
Some photos of the greening of Riverfest this year (volunteers raising awareness, well done everybody it was a great success) (click to enlarge):
To support Compost Awareness Week in May, 2013, several local authorities, with support from Stop Food Waste, are organising events to support home composting in their regions.
Here’s just two examples (more to follow):
Cork County Council:
Fota Plant Fair Sun 21st 10-5 pm
Ballysheedy GC on Sat 18th May 11-4 pm
Blackwater GC on Sat 25th May 12-3 pm
Secret Garden GC Sun 2nd June 2-5 pm
Greenbarn Killeagh Sat 19th May 12 – 4 pm
Griffins GC to confirm dates
Galway County Council:
26 April Country Market, Letterfrack 11.00 – 3.00 pm
29 April Ahascragh Community Centre 8.00 pm
30 April Spiddal Library 8.00 pm
3 May Tuam Shopping Centre 11.00 – 3.00 pm
5 May Tully Festival (TBC) 12.00 – 6.00 pm
7 May Clifden Cluid Housing TBC
10 May Horkans Garden Centre 11.00 – 3.00 pm
13 May Milltown Community Centre 8.00pm
14 May Williamstown Community Hall 7.00pm
26 May Rinville Park 1.00 – 5.00 pm
29 May Mountbellew Community Centre 2.00 – 3.30 pm
Keep an eye out for home composting events in your area!
September 17th, 2012: the Deputy Mayor of Limerick Cllr Kevin Kiely presents certificates to a group of Limerick City’s Master Composters at O’Brien Park on Clare Street, Limerick City.
Galway City Council Environment Department has produced multilingual waste management leaflets for restaurants and businesses in the city.
To reflect the multicultural and multilingual nature of the Galway City community, these guides have been developed and distributed in English, Urdu (Indian) and Mandarin (Chinese).
These have now been distributed to restaurants in the city and have been very well received, overcoming the language barrier that previously exited.
The leaflets give guidance on how to segregate food waste properly for composing, as well as information on recycling, general/landfill waste, glass, cooking oil and grease traps.
To download the PDF versions of these click on the links:
To reuse these (kindly made available by Mary O’Leary, Galway City Council) for your own local authority, (using your own logos etc.) contact LAPN here.
These have been uploaded on the LAPN Discussion Forum for local authorities on Basecamp for everybody who is signed in to that too. To join that network, contact LAPN too.
Well done Galway!
The West Waterford Festival of Food, Dungarvan, April 11th – 14th, 2013, went green again this year with 10 specifically designed Waste Segregation stations and wheelie bins at 4 locations.
Two trucks were laid on for cardboard only to ensure recovery and recycling, from the various stalls etc.
Anne Sullivan, the Greening co-ordinator from Waterford County Council, arranged lots of volunteers to help out and, despite the high winds they managed to have a litter free festival and a very high level of recycling.
Waterford County Council’s encouraged all participants at the Festival to BeGreen by providing 10 recycling stations in addition to the existing bins throughout the festival during Saturday and Sunday. A three tier bin system similar to Waterford County Council’s Refuse Collection was implemented on the street in Dungarvan during Saturday and Sunday. All bins were clearly marked with the new generic bin labels approved by the BeGreen programme; Brown bin for food waste, Grey Bin for general waste and White Bin for recycling bottles and cans only. Each recycling station was manned by volunteer’s students and clubs from Mercyhurst, Build a Skate/BMX Park Committee Dungarvan, Dungarvan Tidy Towns, Dungarvan Rugby Club, Teens ’n Jeans Youth Club Ardmore, Ard Scoil and Abbeyside Girl Guides , Dungarvan Hill walking Club, Pitch & Putt Dungarvan. Well done to all the volunteers who helped festival goers use the right bins. The feedback from the festival was very positive and there was great praise for all the volunteers.
Over 20,000 people participated in the festival over 3 days. http://www.waterfordfestivaloffood.com/
The “Be Green award 2012” was presented by Anne Sullivan Education and Awareness Officer to Annie’s Roast from Cork. This award was adjudicated by the Environmental Health Officers who stated that they are a family friendly run business, food cooked to an excellent hygienic standard. They also segregate all their waste. (This award is retrospective as Environmental Health Officers are unable to give result on the day).
Well done Anne and all at West Waterford Festival of Food.
Some other photos (click to enlarge
Limerick City Council is Celebrating Earth Day, 22nd of April with a Workshop Cultivating Living Working Communities
This full day workshop will explore how we can nurture our communities to be healthier and more resilient and backed by local economies.
The workshop is designed to build the capacity of people already working to improve quality of life in their communities. If you are active in the development of your community, involved in community enterprises, want to support local producers or are engaged in making your community a better place to live, this workshop will be of interest.
Download more details here: Cultivating Living Working Communities Workshop (27 Kb)
Prior Booking is essential – Phone Sinead on 407195 or email: smcdonnell@limerickcity.ie
Midleton Tidy Towns and Supervalu Store Midleton are co-osting an environmentally friendly shopping event.
The event is being supported by on the day by Sinéad Ní Mhainnín, Galway County Council and Pauline McDonogh, Limerick Clare Kerry Regional Waste Management Office.
WHERE: Supervalu Store Midleton & (Library)
TIME: Time 2-6 pm & 6-8 (Library)
DATE: Thursday 11th April
What is happening at this event?
• Display of the traditional old fashioned household cleaning products that
• grandma used.
• Discussion on their use & effectiveness.
• Benefits to the public: Saves you money
• Benefits to everyone: Reduces the pollution impact of chemicals entering our
• environment.
Bring along your completed survey form from Midleton Tidy Towns or fill one out at the counter on the day and your could win one of 6 shopping vouchers for €50.
For more information, contact
Dr Mary Stack, Cork County Council
Email: Mary.Stack@CorkCoCo.ie
Tel: 021 4532722
Limerick’s Elemental Arts and Culture Festival has made the move to green the event this year and so, in association with City Centre Tidy towns, has taken a ‘tree pledge’ to offprint their carbon footprint.
Event organisers recently planted 30 trees to this effect, at the ‘urban forest’ in Corbally. “The trees are intended to provide an ongoing legacy and we intend to make the Tree Pledge a regular part of the festival” according to Alan Hogan, co-founder.
The trees: hornbeams, hazel and bitch were sourced locally from Dromcollogher Organic College.
Picture (above, click to enlarge) shows Jennifer Allen & Jim McNamara of the event at the planting.
Elemental Arts & Culture Festival 2013 is a three-day event, taking place from Friday 13th September to Sunday 15th September 2013 in Limerick City. It will include puppetry, music, short films screening by Behind the Scenes, site specific theatre work, Forgotten Skills at the Hunt Museum, eco-workshops, street performers, to name just some.
Elemental has committed to work closely with Limerick Clare Kerry Regional Waste management Office, under the Green Your Festival Programme of the LAPN, & Limerick City Council to reduce its impact in 2013 and subsequent years.
For more about the Greening of Elemental click here.
Website: http://elementallimerick.com/
Blog: http://elementalartsandculture.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElementalLmk
Fleadh Cheoil na Mumhan 2013 will be hosted for the first time by Castletroy CCÉ in the University of Limerick. Munster Fleadh 2013 promises to be a unique Munster Fleadh as it will be the first time it will be held in an enclosed campus environment. The organising committee headed up by Cathaoirleach na Fleidhe Niall Keegan and Runaí na Fleidhe Majella Bartley are working hard to organise an action-packed programme of events for the Fleadh. These will include a wide selection of outdoor and indoor concerts, céilithe, workshops, competitions, and street sessions.
The organising committee for the Fleadh are working closely with the Limerick, Clare, Kerry Regional Waste Management Office to green the event. Planned activities include:
- Source Segregation & prevention of waste
- The use of a uniquely designed App to keep participants informed of ways they can help green the event
- Eco-pledges
- The promotion of tap water
- Energy & water conservation measures in the campus accommodation
- A Shuttle bus around the campus as well as the promotion of smarter travel.
It is anticipated that the event will attract up to 12,000 people, 3000 of which will be competing so its a big challenge to green the fleadh but everyone involved is willing to give it a go.
Website: http://www.munsterfleadh.ie/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MunsterFleadh2013/284884174960657?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fleadhnamumhan
For more information on the greening of this event contact:
Pauline McDonogh, Limerick Clare Kerry Regional Waste Management Office
Email: pmcdonogh@managewaste.ie
Tel: 087 2755538; 061 496844
